Ways of Healing
by daughter of athena 2000
Summary: After escaping Tartarus and winning the war, Percy and Annabeth return home to begin the process of healing. They'll soon learn, however, that their biggest challenge wasn't escaping Tartarus; it's escaping the scars that Tartarus left on them.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey guys! So although I've been a Percy Jackson fan for the longest time, this is my first fanfic for this particular fandom, so I'm honestly very nervous to see what you guys think. I hope you guys like it, and thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

Percy's PoV:

They had a system; it was strange to outsiders trying to look in, it would easily be frowned upon by any parents who knew about it, and it made them seem like the kind of couple who was clingy and obsessive. But they had been through hell and back together, so to hell with the outsiders and the parents and how it made them seem. Sally hadn't been completely sold on the idea at first, seeing as it required them doing everything together, but after the first nightmare had occured she had almost pushed them into the same bed.

And so their system went: they went to bed together, Percy holding Annabeth close as he whispered sweet nothings into her ear and Annabeth drawing circles on his broad chest. They'd finally fall asleep, only to wake up not too much later because one of them was having a nightmare. They'd fight through the night together until morning came, and then they'd get up, shower innocently together, and eat breakfast before heading off to camp (because school certainly wasn't happening after Tartarus).

Percy had no doubt in his mind that his favorite part of their system was the part where they fell asleep; yes, falling asleep in and of itself was torture, but the process of falling asleep was what Percy loved. He loved the intimacy involved, because sure they were plenty intimate, but this was an unrestrained, private type of intimacy that they hadn't been granted until then. The nightmares...well the nightmares could kill him, especially since all of them involved Annabeth being hurt or killed or taken away from him in some other way, but feeling Annabeth drawing circles on his chest was his favorite part of the whole falling asleep process. He knew exactly when she had fallen asleep too, because the further into sleep that she drifted, the sloppier the circles became until finally, they stopped. It sounded strange to most; even his mother had given him a strange look before asking for an explanation when it had come up one morning before Annabeth was awake (normally they wouldn't leave if the other wasn't awake, but Percy wanted to make her a breakfast in bed which would be pretty hard to do unless he got out of bed).

When Sally had wanted an explanation to her son's strange way of thinking, Percy had just looked down almost solemnly before replying, "It tells me that she's with me, that she's alive. It's something that she's done since the first day we started dating; anytime we were laying anywhere together, she would always rub circles on my chest. So it also reminds me that a little bit of the old Annabeth is still in there, but mainly it tells me that she's safe; that when I wake up from a nightmare she'll be there." Sally simply gave a sad smile to her baby boy who had grown up much too fast.

Although Percy didn't go too far into detail, a small smile crept onto his face in return to his mother's as he thought about the girl who could literally use anything, even shapes, to make him fall even deeper into love with her. If only this small joy had lasted.

At that moment, a shrill scream was heard coming from Percy's room. Percy's heart leapt into his chest as he immediately recognized it as Annabeth's scream, and he didn't waste any time in sprinting the short distance from the kitchen to his bedroom. As he entered the small room, the sight in front of him made his heart shatter; but what was new? Everytime he saw her like this it broke him.

Percy was faintly aware of his mother watching in horror from the doorway as he kneeled on the bed next to his girlfriend and took her face in his hands, saying, "Annabeth. Annabeth! Come on, you gotta wake up, it's okay, it's okay I've got you. I'll handle the rest but I need you to wake up for me, okay? Please Annabeth, ANNABETH WAKE UP!"

Her gray eyes flew open, tears quickly trickling down her cheeks. Their eyes met briefly before she broke down, burying her face into his shoulder as he engulfed her in a hug. "I've got you," he whispered, "I've got you. It's okay sweetheart, I've got you." Percy could feel her calloused hands fisting the back of his shirt as he tried his best to make it better. He was her soulmate, her best friend; he was supposed to know how to make it all better again, but he felt like he was failing miserably. He knew in the back of his mind that he was indeed helping; that she needed this, needed to just cry it out and then she would be okay again...until the next nightmare.

Slowly but surely Annabeth calmed down but never once removed her face from his shoulder. As he began to rub soothing circles on her back he whispered, "Do you want to talk about it?" She shook her head "no" as she finally lifted her head to look into Percy's eyes. For a moment they just sat there, searching each other's eyes. Then Percy gave a small smile and said, "We're in this together Wise Girl. Forever and always."

She returned his smile, albeit a little shakily. "I know Seaweed Brain. Forever and always."

And so on with their day they went, both knowing how the coming night would go. Percy would whisper to her and Annabeth would draw her circles, and then the nightmares were sure to come. But eventually the nightmares would fade, and they would just be left with their whispering and their circles, and that was perfectly fine by them.

AN: So I know it was really short, and I'm sorry about that. But I really wanted this to be more of a prologue I guess you could say, so my intention is to make the coming chapters longer. I'll try to update really soon! Also, I want to give you guys what you want, so let me know what you want to see happen with this story! Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following, if you do! Later!


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Oh. My. Gods. You guys are so freaking amazing! This is a new story, and my first story for this fandom, and y'all are already so supportive and awesome! It means the world to me when I get the notification that there's a review for this story, or when I get a notification saying that someone favorited/followed. So I just want to thank every single one of you for being so amazing! Also, this chapter is kind of slow and not very huge, but there's some stuff I want to lead up to and I needed this chapter to do it. Again, if there's anything you want to see happen, please let me know! Thanks for reading, I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

Annabeth's PoV:

Annabeth felt the hot water trickle over her head and down her back, finding solace in the heat that was surely burning her delicate skin. She felt a small, bitter smile creep onto her face; this was her first shower without Percy in months, which he hadn't been happy about. He had insisted that he should go with her, so she had insisted that he was such a teenage boy. She knew, of course, that he had only wanted to shower with her so as to make sure that she was okay after her little episode, but it was still fun to tease him. Teasing him made it seem like old times, when they hadn't been through a very literal hell and they were still innocents.

A part of Annabeth wished that they had never had to endure Tartarus, or maybe even being demigods at all (and she was sure that a part of Percy shared her same feelings about this). Of course they loved being demigods at times; times that involved playing capture the flag at camp, and just camp in general. There was also the very sentimental fact that camp was all she had as a child, before Percy came around and provided her with a sort of family. Sure she had Grover, even before Percy came to camp, but he was always gone (ironically enough, he was always gone because of Percy) and they hadn't always been as close as they were now. But despite all of this, despite the fact that it brought Percy to her and gave her a home and a family, Annabeth couldn't help but loathe the gods and wonder what would've happened if she and Percy had never been born as god-spawn.

Annabeth was somehow very sure that demigods or not, she and Percy still would've found each other somehow; maybe she would've been in the library and he would've come in and- well no, her Seaweed Brain would never be caught dead in a library unless he was sacrificing for her because she wanted a new book to read. Maybe they would have met in a coffee shop or in school. Maybe they would've bumped into each other on the crowded New York streets, if she was even in New York then. But no matter how they could have met, Annabeth was sure of two things: they would have found each other because after all, that's how this whole "soulmates" thing works, and they would have led perfectly normal, happy lives together. Their biggest fight would have been one of them forgetting their anniversary, or Percy being too oblivious to notice a ditzy waitress flirting with him while they were on a date (this one had actually happened not too long after they started dating, but all was forgiven quickly). Maybe Tartarus had drawn them impossibly closer, shown them what they truly meant to each other, but Annabeth was certain that they didn't need to go through hell for those things to happen.

The tears began to pour down her face again until Annabeth was sobbing as she pounded her fists into the tile of the shower wall. A scream ripped its way out of her throat as she felt an overwhelming anger overtake her. Those fucking gods and their fucking quests and their fucking ignorance towards their own children. She heard thunder rumble in the distance but she couldn't find it in herself to give a shit. They certainly didn't care so why the hell should she? Annabeth didn't know for sure if she was crying for herself or Percy, or maybe even both of them. She didn't know if she was crying out of anger at the lifestyle they were both burdened with, or if she was mourning the loss of something they had never had.

Annabeth was vaguely aware of the bathroom door slamming open, and she knew in the back of her mind that she had probably scared the shit out of Percy when she screamed. He was always on alert now, especially where she was concerned. But Annabeth wasn't thinking of all this because all that she knew in that moment was that she had felt her body fall to the shower floor right before Percy had come in, and she knew that she was shaking now. She knew that she felt more broken in that moment than she had in her entire life, and she knew that she felt ashamed for having forced Percy to see it. She also knew that Percy wouldn't mind seeing it, that it hurt him to see her like this but he would always take care of her when she needed him to. But she couldn't keep away the nagging thoughts of how Percy should have a normal life with a normal girl; a girl who wasn't needy (even if he had told her before that she was all too independent sometimes), a girl who could help him with his problems instead of burdening him with her's.

She was aware of Percy trying to talk to her, taking her into his arms as he tried to calm her down. Annabeth looked into his sea green eyes and knew that despite the overwhelming love and tenderness they held, they also held fear. Fear that Annabeth would never get better, never be happy again. Fear that Percy wasn't good enough, or that he couldn't protect her well enough from her demons; fear that he would lose her. And it killed her; it killed her to know that she could cause him this much pain just by being in pain herself. It killed Annabeth that he was so amazing to her, that he knew her well enough to know just how to make her feel better, and yet this was how she repayed him: by causing him pain and self-doubt.

As Annabeth slowly calmed down and zoned back in, she was aware of the way in which Percy had cradled her, her head resting in the crook of his neck as he held her back with one arm and the back of her head with the other. She was aware of how he lightly rocked her as he whispered reassuring, sweet things into her ear. Percy had this habit that Annabeth had noticed a while back, something that he had always done when comforting her: he would do exactly what he was doing now, although sometimes it varied, and he would always plant random kisses on the top of her head at random intervals. How he knew this would comfort her, she had no clue; the perks of dating your best friend, she supposed. But she loved him so dearly for it, and for so many other reasons as well.

"I love you so much baby," he whispered, planting another one of those gods forsaken kisses on the top of her head. Normally they weren't the type of couple who used sickeningly sweet pet names for each other; they were Annabeth and Percy, Annabeth and Perce, or Wise Girl and Seaweed Brain. When one of them felt threatened by an outsider trying to steal the other one away from them, they occasionally became "his" or "hers". But they never used anything else until Tartarus came and went; once that happened, pet names had become more common, especially when comforting one another. Why this was, neither of them would ever know; they both just summed it up to the fact that their relationship had become impossibly more intimate, and therefore, so did their respective nicknames. Had anyone else tried calling Annabeth "babe" or "baby", they would've been judo-flipped in an instant. But it (surprisingly) made her heart melt when it came from Percy, so it was allowed.

"I love you too," she whispered back, pulling away slightly to look at him. "I'm sorry if I scared you."

"Don't worry about it."

Slowly Annabeth got back up, Percy assisting her. As she turned the water back on (because apparently Percy had turned it off when he came in), Annabeth said, "I'm gonna finish my shower, 'kay? Be out in a second."

Percy's eyebrows furrowed with worry. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

Annabeth granted him a gentle peck before saying, "I'm sure. No more screaming for today."

Percy gave a small smile before walking out. "Love you!" he called.

"Love you too!"

Percy's PoV:

It was another fifteen minutes until Annabeth entered Percy's room wearing his old camp shirt and some jeans. Although the shirt had become much too tight on Percy, he noticed how it hung off of Annabeth's frame loosely. This brought a deep frown to his face; ever since Tartarus, both of them had been far too skinny, so Sally had made it her personal mission to feed them as much as possible. But even so, Annabeth's eating habits had been peckish, which worried both Percy and his parents.

"Stop worrying about how skinny I am." It surprised him sometimes how well his girlfriend knew him.

Percy got up from his laying position on the bed and walked to her, resting his hands on her hips and pulling her in closer as he said, "Sorry but no can do. It's my job to worry about you."

Annabeth looked up at him sadly. "You worry about me way too much you know."

"Do not," Percy retorted, sticking his tongue at her childishly and earning a smile from his love.

"Whatever Seaweed Brain." She ruffled his hair in a playful way that he pretended to hate despite them both knowing that he loved it. "Go get ready."

Percy groaned and plopped his head onto Annabeth's shoulder. "But I don't wanna..."

"You know, the sooner you get ready the sooner we can go to camp," Annabeth sang.

Percy lifted his head and looked down at his girlfriend. "Fine, but only because I want to go to camp."

Annabeth sat on Percy's bed as he began to grab clothes for the day ahead. "Are you sure that's why? Because I think it's because your wonderful girlfriend asked," she said, a mischievous smile on her face.

Percy didn't even turn to look at her as he walked out, saying, "Whatever floats your boat."

Annabeth just grinned broadly and flopped back on Percy's bed.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled, causing said boy to quickly spit out the water in his mouth and grab Riptide, running to his bedroom expecting to see a monster. Instead he found Annabeth grabbing her dagger, ambrosia, and a small vial of nectar and throwing the last two items into the small backpack she carried with her when going to camp.

"What, what is it?" Percy asked, noticing the worried look on his best friend's face.

"Chiron just IM'ed. Camp is under attack."

AN: And there's chapter two! I hope it was okay, and I want to say thank you again to all of you for supporting this story so much already. It means so much to me! Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following, if you do! Later!


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Hey guys! So I don't have much to say, so I hope you like it and thanks so much for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series.

Percy's PoV:

To say that Percy was panicking was an understatement.

He and Annabeth had rushed over to camp to find two chimeras and a manticore on the loose, a lot of scared campers who were obviously new, and some older campers who were fighting with a passion but quickly growing tired. Annabeth had shot him a look as they took everything in before yelling above all the noise, "Where's Clarisse? She never turns down a fight!" Almost as if she had known we were talking about her, Clarisse ran up next to us with Chris.

"Are you freaking kidding me? Gods, I leave camp for one day!" she yelled.

Needless to say, they had quickly joined the fight; that was two chimeras ago. Now only the manticore remained, and Percy couldn't find Annabeth. How he had managed to lose his fighting partner, he'd never know. Suddenly the manticore let out an ear-piercing howl as it disintegrated into golden dust, and Percy watched a baseball cap fly through the air. Everything from there seemed to go in slow motion: Percy squinted at the cap and realized with a sinking feeling in his gut that it wasn't just a baseball cap, it was a Yankee's cap. He whipped around, seeing exactly what he had feared in his mind: Annabeth, laying on the ground face-down, right where the manticore had previously been. Her name tore it's way out of his mouth as he ran to her, rolling her over and checking her pulse; it was steady. In fact, Annabeth was already starting to wake up, but that didn't stop Percy from cradling her as her gray eyes slowly opened, staring into his green ones.

Percy didn't realize how fast his heart was pounding until Annabeth's calloused hand rose to stroke his cheek as she whispered soothingly, "I'm okay Perce, I'm fine."

"Annabeth," he whispered back, unable to say anything despite the numerous thoughts whirling around in his mind.

"Help me up Seaweed Brain." A smile formed on Annabeth's face, and Percy wished desperately that he could smile back, but he couldn't. So instead, he simply helped her up as she requested and began walking to Argus's car with her hand in his. He was faintly aware of Annabeth protesting, saying that they needed to stay and help clean up camp. But then he heard Clarisse tell Annabeth that it was okay, take him back home because the idiot looks like he's having a moment, and never in his life had he been more thankful for Clarisse La Rue.

The ride home was silent, Annabeth knowing that something was deeply wrong but not wanting to push her boyfriend. Percy didn't talk until they were in the living room of Sally's apartment. He had been leading Annabeth to his bedroom, needing to just get away from the fight, to get _her_ away from the fight, when Annabeth finally stopped him. "Percy," she said gently.

He turned to face her, suddenly aware of his mother's presence on the couch. But Percy didn't care, because he came undone the second he looked into his girlfriend's eyes. "Why did you do that Annabeth?" he asked, his voice a dangerous sort of calm.

Annabeth looked at him strangely before saying, "What?"

"Why did you do that? Huh? I'm not as stupid as everyone says that I am-"

"I never called you stupid, Percy-"

"And I can figure out what you did to kill that manticore. You jumped on top of it didn't you?"

Annabeth blinked. "Well yeah, Percy, I had to."

"No, but see, you didn't have to. There are other ways to kill a monster than putting your life in jeopardy, Annabeth." His voice rose at the end, which didn't go unnoticed by the two women.

"Percy, there were four other campers attacking that thing and none of us could do it! But I saw an opening and I took it, I did what I had to in order to protect our home away from here and if you have a problem with that-"

"If I have a problem with that? HELL YES I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT!" Percy smacked his fist on the wall, causing both his girlfriend and his mother to jump slightly in surprise; Percy never showed any signs of violence in front of either of them unless he had to.

"Percy!" Sally said, a warning tone creeping into her voice. But he was on a roll now, and he wasn't going down easily.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND HOW FUCKING DANGEROUS THAT IS ANNABETH? DO YOU? DID YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT YOURSELF, DID YOU EVEN STOP TO CONSIDER THAT YOU MIGHT GET HURT?"

"No, Percy, I didn't! I was thinking about how I needed to kill that thing before it killed one of our friends or you! What is your problem here?"

"MY PROBLEM IS THAT YOU COULD'VE DIED ANNABETH! I COULD'VE LOST YOU!"

Annabeth's words caught in her throat as she watched Percy's chest rise and fall heavily. She knew that he wasn't doing this out of anger towards her, he was doing it out of worry, out of fear. Still, it hurt to see the man whom she loved so much (and who returned the same love just as deeply) like this; so scared, so loud. They had argued and even fought plenty of times in the past, usually because one was worried about the other. But never had Percy screamed at her or cursed; he raised his voice occasionally but even that was rare. Maybe that was why even Sally looked shocked, finally snapping out of her slight daze once she saw Annabeth's eyes beginning to well up.

At the sight of his love about to cry, Percy's anger instantly deflated. His voice much more calm now, Percy whispered, "Oh, Annabeth, I-"

But she only held up a hand to cut him off as she walked off into the kitchen, a hand over her mouth to muffle her sobs. Percy noticed, not for the first time, that Annabeth had been crying much more than usual since Tartarus; his mother insisted that it was just because of the stress that her body needed to release. He started to go after her until his mother stopped him, a gentle but firm tone overtaking her voice. "Percy, why don't you go cool off a little bit."

"But Annabeth-"

"I'll take care of Annabeth, you just go take care of you."

But how could he? How could he take care of himself when he had hurt the love of his life, his best friend, so badly? He needed to take care of Annabeth, to make sure that she was okay, but he could tell by the look in his mother's eyes that she wouldn't allow it. Solemnly, he walked to his room, feeling worse than the monster that had caused all of this.

Annabeth's PoV:

Annabeth looked up, wiping at her eyes as Sally entered the kitchen. The two women simply stared at each other for a minute before the older of the two opened up her arms, letting Annabeth run to her and cling on as she cried. Annabeth felt a strong appreciation for this woman who had been a mother to her for years as said woman stroked her hair soothingly.

"You know, he must really love you," Sally said. Annabeth pulled away slightly, looking up at the older woman as she continued. "I mean, that much was already obvious. But the only other time I've ever seen him get that angry was when he was younger and he saw Gabe hit me for the first time. He had about the same reaction, except he was angry at Gabe instead of some mythological monster."

"I know that he wasn't angry at me, but it still felt like it. It felt like he hated me for a second there," Annabeth whispered.

"Oh sweetie," Sally said, planting a motherly kiss on the top of her head, "Percy could never, ever hate you. Not ever."

Annabeth's tears were now long gone, but she never wanted to leave Sally's motherly embrace. She felt shielded from the world, from all of the monsters and problems she constantly had to face. But there was a man who needed her very badly at the moment, and she couldn't let him down. "Do you think I should go talk to him?"

"I think so. He's worried about you."

"He's always worried about me," Annabeth said, and Sally didn't miss the guilt in her voice.

Annabeth was sure that Sally could've said something more, but instead she just gave Annabeth a small smile and laid a hand on her cheek only to take it off a second later when Annabeth departed for Percy's room, giving the woman a soft but genuine "thank you" as she left.

As Annabeth walked the short distance to Percy's room, she didn't know what to think. She didn't know what she would find, or what she would even say to Percy, she just knew that she needed to be with him. Taking a deep breath, Annabeth pushed lightly on the slightly cracked door and felt her heart break at what she found: she found Percy, sitting on his bed with his back to the door. Even though he wasn't facing her, Annabeth could tell that he was crying by the way his back rose and fell erratically as he held his head in his hands. Percy must not have heard her enter the room because he never turned around, nor did he ever seem to wipe his tears away as a way of denying that he had been crying; he never let her see him cry.

Annabeth slowly made her way over to the bed and kneeled behind her boyfriend, who was now very aware of her presence. He did, in fact, try to act like he hadn't been crying, but both of them knew that he couldn't fool Annabeth. Slowly she reached around him and hugged his shoulders, her hands clasping together in front of them and resting right over his heartbeat. Annabeth put her face in the crook of his neck, planting a soft kiss there as his hands came up to meet her's.

"I love you," she said gently.

"I love you too," he replied, using the same gentle voice that she had opted to use.

Percy unlatched her arms from around his body, only to turn around and pull her into his lap, leaning his back against the bedroom wall. Her head rested below his, and he stroked her hair as he held her, planting a kiss on her temple from time to time. They were quiet for a while, Percy struggling to find the right words to explain his actions and Annabeth knowing that he would talk to her when he was ready. Finally Percy whispered, "You really scared me back there."

"Yeah, I could tell," Annabeth said, her voice serious even though a wry smile made its way onto her face.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Annabeth could hear the regret in his voice. "I feel worse than those fucking monsters."

"Percy," she said, twisting to face him but not leaving his grasp, "You are not a monster. You love me, and you were worried because even though it was necessary, what I did was dangerous."

Percy looked at her grimly. "I can't lose you Annabeth. Not now, not ever. I almost lost you to a manticore once, so when I saw you fall doing exactly what you did the first time..."

And then it clicked for Annabeth. She didn't know how her brain hadn't caught on before, because she remembered that time very well; wishing that she could get out of the situation, that she could just see Percy again. But she hadn't really stopped and thought about how hard it must've been for Percy, having to convince everyone that she wasn't dead even though she very well should've been.

Despite all of the thoughts, all of the understandings, floating around in Annabeth's head, she just couldn't think of what to say to him. So she settled on a simple, "I know," because even though it wasn't much, it was something. She hesitated, and then, "If I ever lost you..."

"I know," Percy repeated.

And maybe that simple sentence wasn't very much, but it was certainly enough for them.

AN: So, I hope that was okay. I know it was kinda rushed but I go back to school tomorrow and I really wanted to update for you guys before I go back. Please let me know what you thought, and what you want to see happen. Thanks for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following, if you do! Later!


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